Toy horse



E. M MELLON March 21, 1950 TOY HORSE Filed June 11, 1947 INVEN OR EDWARD MC MELLON 8?.

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IO?! 22 IO 24 Patented Mar. 21, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Edward McMellon, North Harrow, England Application June 11, 1947, Serial No. 753,908 In Great Britain May 23, 1946 Claims. (Cl. 280-120) This invention relates to toy horses and the like, its object being to provide a simple construction which enables the toy to be propelled by a movement closely resembling actual horseriding and whilst intended primarily for the use of children, it can obviously be made of a size suitable for the use of adults in gymnasiums.

A simple embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein- Fig. 1 is a side elevation;

Fig. 2 is a rear end view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan of the rocking bar of Fig. 1 shown to a larger scale.

According to the present invention, I provide a toy horse mounted on wheels or castors and having an arcuate or radiused movement effected by the rider to propel the device. For this purpose the toy comprises a frame carried on wheels, and on which is mounted a rocking bar bearing a seat.

To one end of the rocking bar is attached an arm or the like for stirrups whilst the other end of the rocking bar is coupled to the axle for the rear wheels so that a person seated on the saddle and exerting pressure on the stirrups with an up and down movement of the body as in actual horse riding, will not only obtain the same exercise but will propel the toy by such movements. The rocking bar is coupled to the axle preferably by means of a crank eccentrically pivoted to a sprocket wheel or the like which is itself coupled by a chain to a similar sprocket wheel on the rear axle.

A head for the toy is disposed at the forward end of the rocking bar and is supported on a spindle which is carried in a bearing sleeve, the rotation of said spindle in the sleeve being limited for instance by a pin on the spindle coacting with a notch or notches in the sleeve. At its lower end, remote from the steering head, the said spindle is bent or curved and engaged with a fork arranged at the upper end of another spindle carrying a steerable front wheel, whereby steering of the latter may be effected by movement of the steering head, no matter what the position of the rocking bar is with respect to the frame.

In the example illustrated, a frame I mounted on wheels 2 has inclined forward and rear members la and. lb respectively an upper cross-bracing strut 3, a lower cross-bracing strut 4, and outwardly splayed rear ends 5 which latter carry a linear axle 6 for the rear wheels. At its upper part, the frame I has a rocking bar I pivoted at a point 8. The I'QGking bar comprises two parallel members 9 rigidly attached together by a plurality of distance pieces I0, one of which at the forward end of the bar forms a rigid mounting for a sleeve ll. Bolts 12 are provided on two other distance pieces and serve for the attachment of the body I3 (shown in broken line for clarity). Towards its rear end, the rocking bar 1 carries a crank pin I4 onwhich is pivoted a connecting rod l5 serving to couple the rocking bar to a sprocket l6 having a chain Ilia which latter also passes round a similar sprocket lBb on the rear axle.

The rocking bar also carries, towards its rear end, a seat I! and towards its front end a pair of stirrups IS. The sleeve II at the front end of the rocking bar serves as a bearing for a steering spindle 19 carrying a head I 9a (shown in broken line for clarity) the movement of which with respect to the sleeve is limited by means of a pin 20 on the spindle movable in a slot 2| in the sleeve. The lower end of the spindle H! has a crank 22 which bears at its end a tongue 23. The tongue engages with a forked bell crank 24 at the upper end of a steering column 25 which is pivoted at points 26 and 21 at the front of the frame. By this means, no matter what the position of the rocking bar is about its pivot point 8 the steering spindle l9 engages with the steering column 25 for any movement of the steering spindle about the axis of the sleeve II. A steerable front wheel is attached at the lower end of the steering column.

I claim:

1. A toy horse, a frame therefor comprising inclined forward and rear members, upper and lower cross-bracing struts therefor, outwardly splayed ends on said inclined rear frame member, a linear rear axle carrying rear wheels supported in the said splayed ends of the rear frame member, a pivotal bearing at the top of the frame for a rocking bar disposed above said frame, stirrups and a seat carried by said rocking bar respectively forward of and rearwadly of said pivot, driving mechanism between the rocking bar and the said rear axle, a steering column carried by said frame, a steering spindle carried by the said rocking bar to actuate said steering column, and a bearing sleeve for the steering spindle at the front end of the rocking bar.

2. In a toy horse as claimed in claim 1, means to limit the turning of the steering spindle comprising a pin on said steering spindle and a notch in the said bearing sleeve to receive said pin.

3. In a toy horse as claimed in claim 1, a-crank at the lower end of the steering spindle, a tongue on the end of said crank, and a forked bell crank at the upper end of the steering column to engage with the tongue, whereby the steering spindle and column are engaged with each other when the steering spindle is rotated about the longitudinal axis of the bearing sleeve.

4. In a toy horse as claimed in claim 1, the rocking bar consisting of two parallel members rigidly attached'together by a plurality of distance pieces, a rigid mounting formed by one of the said distance pieces for the sleeve disposed at the forward end of the rocking bar, bolts provided on two other of said distance pieces for the attachment of the body, a crank pin mounted on still another distance piece at the rear end of the rocking bar, a connecting rod pivoted on said crank pin, and sprocket and chain means coupling said connecting rod to the rear axle.

5. A toy horse, a frame therefor comprising inclined forward and rear 'frame members, upper and lower cross-bracing struts therefor, outwardly splayed ends on said rear frame member, a linear axle carrying rear wheels supported in said splayed ends of the rear frame member, a pivotal bearing at the top of the frame for a rocking bar disposed above said frame, stirrups and a seat carried by said rocking bar respectively forward and rearward of said pivot, a connecting rod coupled towards the rear end of the rocking bar, a sprocket wheel mounted on the inclined rear frame member and receiving eccentrically one end of the said connecting rod, another sprocket wheel carried on the rear axle and a sprocket chain passing round both of the said sprocket wheels to form a coupling therefor.

EDWARD MCMELLON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the tile :of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 89,695 "Smith May 4, 1869 1,100,411 Wagner et a1. June 16, 1914 1,252,693 Herzog Jan. 8, 1918 1,784,875 Jesswein Dec. 16, 1930 2,424,623 Powl-ick July 29, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 10,112 Great Britain May '7, 1892 326,834 I-ta-ly June 22, 1935 406,132 Germany Nov. 21, 1924 429,460 Great Britain May 30, 1935 612,377 Great Britain Nov. 11, 1948 

